SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

PÄR-HENRIK SJÖSTRÖM
The Astral, which was recently bought by Rederi AB Veritas Tankers.
Third Turkish sister
to Sweden
The Swedish shipping company
Rederi AB Veritas Tankers on the
small island of Donsö off Göteborg
has recently purchased the
11,317 DWT product carrier Astral
from Turkey. Delivered in October
2006 by the Turkish Torlak Shipyard
to the Turkish Besiktas Group,
the vessel traded as the Maltaflagged
Besiktas Finland on a charter
to Nordtank Shipping A/S
before the change of ownership.
The Besiktas Finland was handed
over to her new owner in Göteborg
on April 20, 2007. Renamed the
Astral, she entered service under
Swedish flag on April 27 after docking
and repainting at Götaverken
Cityvarvet AB. Now she is on a two
years time charter to Clearlake
Shipping and is operated by Alexia
Shipping Ltd in Finland.
Identical sisters
The Astral is an identical sister to
the same owner’s Astina. Also Sirius
Rederi AB’s the Scorpius is of
the same type. They were both
handed over in March 2006. They
were bought by the Swedish companies
from the Besiktas Group
while still under construction at
Torlak Shipyard.
Managing Director Ove Johnsson
of Rederi AB Veritas Tankers
says that the performance of the
Astina has fulfilled all expectations
and that the company therefore
wanted to buy the third sister vessel
too.
“When all details regarding the
financing were solved we were able
to close the deal,” he says.
According to Mr Johnsson there
are only a few things differing the
Astral from her older sisters. The
only visible difference is that the
windows of the bridge are larger on
the Astral.
“We and Sirius Rederi would
have liked larger bridge windows
on the first vessels too, but the
work had already proceeded so far
that it was not possible to a reasonable
cost. However the owner
appreciated the know-how of Donsö
and altered the window design
on the third vessel.”
The Astral has six pairs of epoxy
coated cargo tanks with a total volume
of 12,394 cbm with 98 per
cent filling. The vessel is powered
by a MAK 9M32 diesel engine
with an output of 4,300 kW at 600
rpm. The service speed is 13.5
knots at design draft and the fuel
consumption is 17 tons of heavy
fuel oil a day at 90 per cent MCR.
Strengthened for operations in
ice, the 129.75 m long and 19.6 m
wide vessel is classed to Bureau Veritas
rules and is built to the rules of
Finnish/Swedish ice class IA.
pär-henrik sjöström
PON POWER
- Your solution provider
Pon Power has a long history of distributing
and servicing CAT- and MaK marine products
throughout Scandinavia. As a true solution
provider in the marine business, you can
To be recognized as the best by our customers
we have established a dedicated
Caterpillar sales and service organisation
for the Swedish Marine market.
Pon Power offers complete systems
ranging from 6,4 to 16,200 kW, which are
used as propulsion and auxiliary engines,
primary power or emergency power. Our
delivery of spare parts and our maintenance
and operations programme, will deliver you
an exceptional operational reliability at the
lowest possible cost.
Contact information for your marine product:
Sales: 031- 606493
Parts: 031- 606494
Service: 031- 606495
E-mail: cat.marine.se@pon-cat.com
Pon Power A/S
Tagenevägen 25, SE-425 37 Hisings Kärra
Tlf: 031- 606490 / Fax: 031- 606491
www.pon-cat.com
SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 21, 2007 79